Systems and method for interrogating, publishing and analyzing information related to a waste hauling vehicle

ABSTRACT

A system and method for verifying waste fulfillment events in the absence of human intervention using the input of one or more vehicle sensor inputs, one or more waste disposal cycle inputs, and GPS information to augment or supplement optical scanning technology such as RFID tags is disclosed.

PRIORITY

This application a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No.16/090,058, filed Sep. 28, 2018, which is a national stage entry ofPCT/US2017/025569 and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional No.62/316,263 filed on Mar. 31, 2016. In addition, this application is acontinuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 15/406,970,filed on Jan. 16, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.No. 14/269,771, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,546,040, filed on May 5, 2014, whichis a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/353,900, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,714,440, filed on Jan. 19, 2012, which was a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/274,273, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,146,798, filed onNov. 19, 2008, which was a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser.No. 12/267,367, filed on Nov. 7, 2008 and U.S. application Ser. No.12/267,340, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,815,277, also filed on Nov. 7, 2008.This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser.No. 15/011,940, filed on Feb. 1, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/895,138, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,251,388, filed onMay 15, 2013. Each application is hereby incorporated by reference as iffully set forth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to waste hauling and removing. Inparticular, the present disclosure teaches a system architecture andmethod for collecting, analyzing, and providing information for clientinterfaces related to waste hauling vehicles and the like which may beimplemented with passive interrogation techniques so as to lessen theburden upon the vehicle operators while providing real time access via aGPS connection to a remote location (e.g., a fleet operator using abrowser, mobile device or the like).

BACKGROUND

The collection and transportation of trash and recyclables fromresidential, commercial, industrial and large residential facilities isa major industry in the United States and throughout the civilizedworld. Typically, trash and recyclables are accumulated and temporarilystored in waste material receptacles such as trash cans and dumpsters.When filled, or at regularly scheduled intervals, trash and recyclablesfrom the containers are transported for the eventual recycling,incineration and/or disposal into landfills.

Customers typically pay for trash and recyclables removal services basedon the amount of trash and recyclables removed and the number of trashand recyclables pickups over a period of time. The compacting of trashand recyclables at a customer's location typically reduces the number ofpickups. A successful trash and recyclables compactor is disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 6,412,406, titled Trash Compactor and owned by AdvancedCustom Engineered Systems & Equipment, Inc., Carol Stream, Ill.

These industrial, commercial and large residential bins and compactorsare collected from different locations and hauled to a central location.Normally, those hauling the trash and recyclables are sent from acentral location and dispatched to the different locations. In practice,paper logs or schedules document the hauler's runs (e.g., trash andrecyclables to pick-up, trash and recyclables being picked-up, and trashand recyclables picked-up). The haulers are given their routes in personor over the phone. The haulers, in turn, keep in touch with the centrallocation generally by cell phone or radio.

For large organizations this can be a very complicated task as there aremany haulers and many customers needing their trash and recyclablescollected, picked-up and hauled away. In addition, commercial,industrial and large residential (e.g., condos and apartment buildings)trash and recyclables compactors and balers must be monitored formaintenance and repair. This too requires time and energy for thehaulers and/or representatives (of the service provider) to monitor andinspect.

It should also be recognized that these industrial, commercial and largeresidential bins, balers and compactors require both period maintenanceand emergency demand repair services. Normally, those repairing theequipment are sent from a central location and dispatched to thedifferent locations. In practice, paper logs or work orders document therepair person's time (e.g., drive time, time spent performing therepairs, parts and materials used, etc.). The repair companies use avariety of management tools. For example, some are given their routes inperson or over the phone. The service providers, in turn, keep in touchwith the central location generally by cell phone or radio.

For large organizations this can be a very complicated to coordinate andto verify that the charges for these services are fair and accurate asthere are many service providers and many customers needing theircompactors, bins and balers repaired. This too requires time and energyfor the haulers and/or representatives (of the service provider) tomonitor and inspect. Furthermore, it may be desirous for certain wastehauling vehicle service providers to provide access and support to somebut not all participating vehicles so as to enable connection bymultiple fleet operators without a comingling of confidential vehiclefleet or route information.

In addition, it must be recognized that trash and recyclablescompactors, balers and bins must further be monitored for maintenanceand repair.

Methods of improving the refuse collection are disclosed in commonlyassigned and co-pending U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2008-0197194 A1, published on Aug. 21, 2008; U.S. Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2008-0198021 A1, published on Aug. 21, 2008; and U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2008-0202357 A1, published on Aug.28, 2008. These publications are hereby incorporated by reference as iffully set forth herein, and generally disclose systems for communicatingwith receptacles, etc.

One opportunity that exists with refuse removal is to improvecommunication between the vehicles making refuse pick-ups (emptyingreceptacles) and the central station or dispatcher. Currently, thedispatcher may be in contact with the vehicle via radio or telephonetransmission. However, it is not cost-effective or feasible for thedispatcher to be in constant contact with every vehicle out in thefield. Thus, it is impossible for the dispatcher to relay accountinformation associated with each receptacle to a vehicle. It would beadvantageous to provide such information to the vehicle to preventpick-up and emptying of receptacles owned or managed by entitiesdelinquent in their payment of invoices. Also, a given account may havespecial instructions, such as an additional oversized pick-up, for adiscrete single day or event. The dispatcher currently has no way ofassuring that the special instructions are provided to the vehicle in atimely manner.

The applicants' co-pending inventions, such as those disclosed in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/406,970, provide solutions to these andother problems through the use of, for instance, RFID reading of wastecontainers coordinated with a central database to provide servicefulfillment verification notice wirelessly to a remote terminal.However, depending upon the circumstances of the system requirement,there exist challenges whereby the RFID tags on waste containers may notbe readable by the truck operator. Moreover, due to time limitations, itmay be less desirable to require truck operator implementation, e.g.,reading containers with a hand held scanner or by other RFID readers maybe too time consuming and/or prone to error. Finally, due to errors inthe RFID or similar tags (e.g., through mis-assignment of informationduring the assembly and deployment of the waste container, or mistakenswitching of two waste containers), there can be the possibility thatthe RFID tag is read properly, but provides incorrect servicefulfillment verification data to the truck fleet operator.

The present invention is provided to solve the problems discussed aboveand other problems, and to provide advantages and aspects not providedby prior waste and refuse collection systems and apparatuses of thistype. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the presentinvention is deferred to the following detailed description, whichproceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the present invention is directed to a system and methodfor recording customer service fulfillment events. The method comprisesthe steps of: (1) recording a series of body events (e.g., vehicleoperation and waste service cycle steps) on a waste hauling truck; (2)determining whether the truck is located in a preselected zone or at apredetermined location; (3) and associating the body events with a wasteservice fulfillment event.

This aspect of the present invention may further comprise one or more ofthe following steps: (1) establishing a remote database havinginformation associated with a customer location and a unique identifierfor waste containers used by that customer; (2) providing multiple truckbody sensor inputs to a controller unit on the truck, such sensor inputsincluding but not limited to engine transmission variable, GPS location,and waste disposal cycle events; (3) providing such sensor inputs fromthe controller unit to the remote data base for generating a wastefulfillment event; and (4) providing a waste fulfillment reportassociated with the customer location based upon the multiple bodyinputs and GPS location associated with the sensor; and 5) providing areporting mechanism for the waste fulfillment event to the waste truckhauler.

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to actuating a truckmounted camera to verify the occurrence of a waste fulfillment event.This method comprises the step of issuing a signal from the remotedatabase to the controller unit on the truck to actuate capturing databy the camera in response to receiving a predetermined sequence of truckbody sensor inputs in combination with GPS information corresponding toa preselected service zone and/or a customer location. This step canfurther permit the reading by the truck mounted camera of one or moreunique identifiers located (for instance) on the waste container beingdisposed.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing specification taken in conjunction with the followingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

To understand the present invention, it will now be described by way ofexample, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a waste removal and hauling vehicle ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second waste removal and haulingvehicle of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a third waste removal and haulingvehicle of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a fourth waste removal and haulingvehicle of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a waste bin used in accord with thepresent invention; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a communication process carried out by anon-board controller in conjunction with a remote data center.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail preferred embodiments of the invention with the understandingthat the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification ofthe principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broadaspect of the invention to the embodiments illustrated.

Referring to FIGS. 1-5, the present invention is directed to wasteremoval and hauling vehicles and systems or methods incorporating suchvehicles with sensors and an operational network to facilitate proper,efficient and effective waste monitoring and collection. The inventorscontemplate that the present invention will provide a check,augmentation and or replacement of optical scanning of RFID tags and thelike. The inventors further contemplate that the present invention willprovide more effective communication between waste hauling vehicles anda dispatcher located at an external site. As best illustrated by theblock diagram in FIG. 6, the overall system of the invention 10comprises a receptacle 100, preferably a plurality of receptacleslocated at a plurality of locations throughout a municipality or a zone,a refuse or waste hauling vehicle 200, an external site 300, typically acentral station, management office, dispatcher or the like, and ahandheld or truck mounted reader/printer transmitter means 400 used inan example of a RFID reading functionality.

As shown in FIG. 5, each receptacle 100 is preferably outfitted with ameans of communicating or transmitting a signal carrying an uniqueidentifier associated with the receptacle 102, such as a radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tag. RFID tags are well-known in the retailindustry for identifying products. While RFID, and in particular passiveRFID tags are discussed herein, it is recognized that other identifyingor alerting tags can be used. Many are known and perhaps others in thefuture may be used to achieve the same result. For example, electricalarticle surveillance (EAS) tags can be used. EAS tags are commonly usedto prevent shoplifting from retail stores. The EAS tags are attached tomerchandise and are removed or deactivated by the clerks when the itemis properly bought or checked out. At the exits of stores, a detectionsystem sounds an alarm or otherwise alerts the staff when it sensesactive tags. These tags are typically made of a strip of amorphous metal(metglas) having a low magnetic saturation value. This strip is alsolined with a strip of ferromagnetic material with a coercive field(magnetic “hardness”) Detection is achieved by sensing harmonics and sumor difference signals generated by the non-linear magnetic response ofthe material under a mixture of low-frequency (in the 10 Hz to 1000 Hzrange) magnetic fields.

The identifier associated with the receptacle is preferably a discreetidentifier which is assigned to the receptacle 100. The identifierinformation is stored on a database typically located at the externalsite 300, and electronically joined with an account to which thereceptacle 100 belongs. In other words, account information is housed ona database located at the external site 300. Each account has one ormore receptacle identifiers associated with it, and the database carrieswith it information typical to the management of any business account,for example, special instructions, accounts receivable, last receipt,last invoice, amount in arrears, days since last payment, historicalaccount information, contact information, owner, etc.

Referring to FIG. 1-4, various vehicles 200 a-d used in conjunction withthe system 10 of the invention are illustrated. These vehicles 200 a-dare intended to be examples of the types of waste removing and haulingvehicles used to transport refuse today, and the broad aspects of theinvention should not be limited to the specific examples unlessotherwise claimed. It should also be understood that the vehicles 200a-d and related concepts of the external site 300 and the receptacle 100can be used alone or, in combination with the camera event captureconcepts described herein.

Each of the vehicles 200 a-d includes a waste bin 202 located above abaseline upon which the vehicle 200 a-d is supported, generally theground. The waste bin 202 includes a chamber 204 and an emptying site206. The refuse within the receptacles 100 is loaded into the chamber204 via the emptying site 206 (with most variants also providing a liftarm 212 or similar lift mechanism). One of ordinary skill in the art ofwaste hauling would readily understand this method of refuse handlingwithout further description as it is the standard procedure employed inthe art.

The vehicles 200 a-d are further outfitted with at least one vehicleoperation transceiver 208 a (e.g., a parking brake sensor, a wheel locksensor, a gear shift sensor), as well as at least one waste disposalcycle transceiver, and preferably multiple sensors (e.g., a bladesensor, a fork sensor or the like) and preferably multiple wastedisposal cycle transceivers. In addition, the vehicle preferablyincludes one or more cameras 208 b for capturing data associated with awaste cycle event. The transceivers 208 a may be sensors, transducers,or antennae, or any combination thereof. As understood from priordisclosures from which the present invention claims priority, additionaltransceivers may be located on the truck 200 for receiving a signal fromthe transmitting means 102 on the receptacles 100 and send acorresponding signal via wire, wireless, or any other medium to anon-board communication or data link 210. The signal from a giventransceiver 208 a may be response signal to the energy in the form ofthe signal transmitted by the transmitter means 102, or the signal maysimply be a pass through signal, including conversion from a wirelesssignal to a signal carried by another medium such as a wire.

As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 6, the vehicle 200 has acontroller 214, for activating and deactivating the means fortransferring the receptacle 212, in communication with an on-boardcomputer 216. The controller 214 may further include an integrated GPSdevice, or such device may be a separate GPS connector (not shown) whilestill being connected to the controller. The on-board computer 216optionally has a graphic interface 218 and provides the data orcommunication link to and from the transceivers 208 a and the cameras208 b to the external site 300 via modem, firmware dongle or some othercommunication device. The controller 214 may also be a module within theon-board computer without departing from the spirit of the invention.Communication to and from the external site 300 is shown as wirelesscommunication.

The external site 300 may include a server 302 in communication withcomputer 304 and a database 306, typically on the computer 304. Ofcourse, the server 300 is not required to be at the same physical siteas the computer 304, nor is it required for the database 306 to bestored on a computer separate from the server 302. The block diagram ismerely an example of a possible layout. The only requirement for theexternal site 300 is the database 306 and a means for communicationbetween the vehicles and database 306.

The vehicle operation transceivers 208 a of the present invention willsense a vehicle operating condition (e.g., braking or parking thevehicle) which is indicative of a waste service fulfillment event).Likewise, the waste cycle event transceivers will sense one or moreevents corresponding to a waste service fulfillment event. In the eventthat such inputs from the vehicle operating and waste cycle transceivers208 a are provided to the controller, and those events occur when theGPS sensor of controller 214 determines that the truck 200 is located ata previously identified customer's location that is recorded in thedatabase 306, then such information, will be used by the database 306 togenerate a waste service fulfillment event (e.g., refuse is being pickedup from the customer's location). Further, the database 306 willoptionally prompt a control signal back to the vehicle 200 to cause thecamera 208 b to begin recording data corresponding to the wastereceptacle 100 being serviced. Thus, the claimed system can be used inplace of or in confirmation of an RFID reading process to read the RFIDtags 102 on the receptacle 100.

The architecture for providing the communication between the vehicle andthe database can comprise a queue-based message architecture. The systemincludes an asynchronous publication of business event messages (e.g.,service fulfillment events) via a controller 214/GPS hardware connectorconnected to the vehicle and connected by a vehicle electrical bus toone or more transceivers 208 a which can interrogate the vehicle andpass information onto the controller 214/GPS hardware connector withoutrequiring interrogation activities by the vehicle operators. Thecontroller 214/GPS hardware connector then sends the events to providemessages to one or more distributed client locations, so as to enableasynchronous business event publication. Thus, each client is sentmessages which are maintained and persist in a queue until a remoteclient location (e.g., whether database 306, server or a browser or amobile device with an appropriate application) acknowledges that themessage has been received and processed. This arrangement enables thecomponents or layers of the system to execute independently while stillinterfacing with each other.

Specific architecture components for enabling such a messaging systeminclude the Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), which enables decouplingof the components of a cloud application. The SQS jumpstart resourcescan enable a variety of web protocols and languages for use with suchmessaging to clients, including .NET, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python,Ruby and JMS). Alternatively, clients can access their queues viastandards-based APIs (e.g., SOAP/REST over HTTPS). Of course, thisarchitecture can support client mobile application development for usewith publicly available mobile operating systems, such as Android oriOS. Data security for the messages can be provided with keyed-hashmessage authentication codes (HMACs), such as HMAC-SHA signatures andbinary to text encoding such as Base64.

This architecture enables real-time or near-real time web services fordata inquiries by clients through such interfaces. The service providerexposes an API stack to enable consumers to fetch specific data sets. Aclient or the service provider can query current information oraggregate summaries on-demand. Moreover, customers can quickly developcustomer applications to call service provider APIs, which arepreferably built upon open standards.

Data received from the vehicles is secured and stored by the serviceprovider on a remote server farm 302 and can be accessed by the customerfor historical analysis. Customers can view aggregate data sets tounderstand more about their inefficiencies and identify opportunitiesfor improvement Reports provide user-friendly visualizations forbusiness users to easily pinpoint trends, patterns, and operationalanomalies.

The messages provided by the present system architecture enable theservice provider to continuously recognize and capture discrete eventsfrom transceiver 208 a as they occur. Such events include, for exampleGPS/vehicle Positions, rule exceptions, engine faults, vehicle statuschanges and trip updates. The service provider may thus publish nearreal-time event streams to the above mentioned customer applications(i.e., the subscribers). The customers, in turn, can control how toreact to the received events. For example, customers (either bythemselves or with the service provider) can generate business rules todictate a specific response based upon the published event type.Customers can thus key off of events, trends and patterns in thepublished messages to make real-time business decisions to improve fleetdeployment and service fulfillment.

While the specific embodiments have been illustrated and described,numerous modifications come to mind without significantly departing fromthe spirit of the invention, and the scope of protection is only limitedby the scope of the accompanying Claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An automated system for initiating recording andprocessing of a waste service fulfillment event in an absence of humaninteraction, the automated system comprising; a) a brake sensorconnected to a brake of a waste truck; b) a fork sensor connected to afork lift of the waste truck; c) a blade sensor connected to a blade ofthe waste truck; d) a controller unit located on the waste truck andelectrically connected to at least each of the brake sensor, the forksensor, and the blade sensor, the controller unit further including orconnected to a GPS locator, wherein the controller unit is configuredto: receive a brake sensor input from the brake sensor in response tothe brake sensor sensing a braking of the waste truck, receive a forksensor input from the fork sensor in response to the fork sensor sensingoperation of the fork lift of the waste truck, receive a blade sensorinput from the blade sensor in response to the blade sensor sensingoperation of the blade of the waste truck, and receive, from the GPSlocator, GPS information that corresponds to addresses of customers ofthe waste truck; and e) a database processor in communication with thecontroller unit and configured to: provide service fulfillment recordsto an external computing device remote from the automated system,determine that (i) the controller unit has received, in sequence, thebrake sensor input, the fork sensor input, and the blade sensor inputand (ii) the GPS information received by the controller unit from theGPS locator indicates that the waste truck is currently located at aknown address of a customer of the waste truck, and in response to thedetermining, create a service fulfillment record associated with thecustomer of the waste truck.
 2. The automated system of claim 1, whereinthe database processor is located at a remote location from the wastetruck and communicates wirelessly with the controller unit.
 3. Theautomated system of claim 1, further comprising at least one cameraattached to the waste truck and electrically connected to the controllerunit, wherein the database processor is configured to, in response toreceiving, in sequence, the brake sensor input, the fork sensor input,and the blade sensor input, and further in response to the GPSinformation received by the controller unit from the GPS locatorindicating that, the waste truck is currently located at the knownaddress of the customer of the waste truck, send a signal to thecontroller unit to actuate recording by the at least one camera.
 4. Anautomated system for initiating recording and processing of a wasteservice fulfillment event in an absence of human interaction, theautomated system comprising: a) at least one vehicular operationalsensor connected to a waste truck; b) at least one waste disposal cyclesensor connected to the waste truck; c) a controller unit located on awaste truck and electrically connected to the at least one vehicularoperational sensor, the at least one waste disposal cycle sensor, thecontroller unit further including or connected to a GPS locator, whereinthe controller unit is configured to: receive a vehicular operationalsensor input from the at least one vehicular operational sensor inresponse to the at least one vehicular operational sensor sensing atleast one vehicle operational device of the waste truck, receive a wastedisposal cycle sensor input from the at least one waste disposal cyclesensor in response to the at least one waste disposal cycle sensorsensing operation of at least one waste disposal cycle device of thewaste truck, and receive, from the GPS locator, GPS information thatcorresponds to addresses of customers of the waste truck; and d) adatabase processor in communication with the controller unit andconfigured to: provide service fulfillment records to an externalcomputing device remote from the automated system, determine that (i)the controller unit has received the vehicular operational sensor inputand the waste disposal cycle input in a redefined sequence, and (ii) theGPS information received by the controller unit from the GPS locatorindicates that the waste truck is currently located at a known addressof a customer of the waste truck, and in response to the determining,create a service fulfillment record associated with the customer of thewaste truck.
 5. A method for initiating recording and processing of awaste service fulfillment event in the absence of human interaction, themethod comprising; receiving, by a controller unit located on a wastetruck, in sequence, (i) a brake sensor input from a brake sensorconnected to a brake of the waste truck, (ii) a fork sensor input from afork sensor connected to a fork lift of the waste truck, and (iii) ablade sensor input from a blade sensor connected to a blade of the wastetruck, wherein the controller unit is electrically connected to thebrake sensor, the fork sensor, and the blade sensor, wherein thecontroller unit comprises a GPS locator; receiving, from the GPSlocator, GPS information that corresponds to addresses of customers ofthe waste truck; determining that the GPS information received by thecontroller unit from the GPS locator indicates that the waste truck iscurrently located at a known address of a customer of the waste truck;in response to receiving, in sequence, the brake sensor input, the forksensor input, and the blade sensor input, and further in response todetermining that the GPS information received by the controller unitfrom the GPS locator indicates that the waste truck is currently locatedat the known address of the customer of the waste truck, generating, bya database processor communicatively coupled to the controller unit, awaste service fulfillment record associated with the known address andthe customer; and transmitting, by the database processor, the wasteservice fulfillment record to an external computing device remote fromthe waste truck.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the databaseprocessor is located at a remote location from the waste truck andcommunicates wirelessly with the controller unit.
 7. The method of claim5, further comprising: in response to receiving, in sequence, the brakesensor input, the fork sensor input, and the blade sensor input, andfurther in response to determining that the GPS information received bythe controller unit from the GPS locator indicates that the waste truckis currently located at the known address of the customer of the wastetruck, transmitting, by the database processor, to at least one cameraattached to the waste truck and electrically connected to the controllerunit, a signal to actuate recording; and in response to receiving thesignal, recording, by the at least one camera, data corresponding to awaste receptacle being serviced at the known address.
 8. A method forinitiating recording and processing of a waste service fulfillment eventin the absence of human interaction, the method comprising; receiving,by a controller unit located on a waste truck, (i) a vehicularoperational sensor input from at least one vehicular operational sensorconnected to the waste truck in response to the at least one vehicularoperational sensor sensing at least one vehicle operational device ofthe waste truck and (ii) a waste disposal cycle sensor input from atleast one waste disposal cycle sensor connected to the waste truck inresponse to the at least one waste disposal cycle sensor sensingoperation of at least one waste disposal cycle device of the wastetruck, wherein the controller unit is electrically connected to the atleast one vehicular operational sensor and the at least one wastedisposal cycle sensor, wherein the controller unit comprises a GPSlocator; determining that the vehicular operational sensor input and thewaste disposal cycle sensor input were received in a predefinedsequence; receiving, from the GPS locator, GPS information thatcorresponds to addresses of customers of the waste truck; determiningthat the GPS information received by the controller unit from the GPSlocator indicates that the waste truck is currently located at a knownaddress of a customer of the waste truck; in response to determiningthat the vehicular operational sensor input and the waste disposal cyclesensor input were received in the predefined sequence, and further inresponse to determining that the GPS information received by thecontroller unit from the GPS locator indicates that the waste truck iscurrently located at the known address of the customer of the wastetruck, generating, by a database processor communicatively coupled tothe controller unit, a waste service fulfillment record associated withthe known address and the customer; and transmitting, by the databaseprocessor, the waste service fulfillment record to an external computingdevice remote from the waste truck.
 9. The automated system of claim 4,wherein the at least one vehicle operational device of the waste truckcomprises one or more of a brake of the waste truck, a wheel of thewaste truck, or a gear of the waste truck.
 10. The automated system ofclaim 4, wherein the at least one waste disposal cycle device of thewaste truck comprises one or more of a lift arm of the waste truck or ablade of the waste truck.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the atleast one vehicle operational device of the waste truck comprises one ormore of a brake of the waste truck, a wheel of the waste truck, or agear of the waste truck.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the at leastone waste disposal cycle device of the waste truck comprises one or moreof a lift arm of the waste truck or a blade of the waste truck.